The men of 'Twilight' talk of love and more

July 02, 2010

LOS ANGELES — Ask many a teenage girl to which team are they most loyal and it's unlikely you'll hear about the Blackhawks, White Sox, Bears or Cubs. You'll probably get an earful about "hits" of a different kind from the new movie "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse." You're Team Edward if you love the moody vampire Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson. Team Jacob is for fans of the usually shirtless, chiseled abs of Taylor Lautner's werewolf persona, Jacob Black.

Recently, I was a guest of Summit Entertainment in Los Angeles, talking with both actors, who are now on their third installment of fang-filled love tug of war.

Q

You both have been through three different directors on these movie adaptations. What's been the difference for you?

Robert Pattinson: I don't know necessarily if it shows in the final film, but the difference between Chris Weitz ("New Moon" director) and David Slade ("Eclipse" director) is dramatic. Chris saw the first one and just thought that he wanted to follow along the road. David wanted to do it completely different from the first two. It all felt so fresh right from the first day. Edward's movement and such, from every single part of the performance, it just really shook it up a little bit.

Taylor Lautner: Well, Jacob gets a little more frustrated and a little heated in this one. It was very emotional for me. There are a lot of emotional scenes between Jacob and Bella (played by Kristen Stewart) and Jacob and Edward. He becomes very close to Bella, there's the much-talked-about kissing scene — but also all of the fighting scenes, so it was good ... it was much more dramatically challenging.

Q

And what about that kissing scene with Kristen? I know that you're both very good friends. That has to be a little awkward.

TL: We are very close friends, but I wouldn't say it was awkward. After we finished a take of the kissing scene that was kind of steamy, there would be a moment of silence and then we'd look at each other and she'd go, "Ewww, we just kissed … weird." And then we had to do it again and again. After a while, it got kind of mechanical.

Q

In the movie, your characters are both in love with Bella and in hot pursuit of her interests. She doesn't know which way to turn and even is at the core of the battle that breaks out in this film. In real life, could you be in a relationship that was so difficult to have?

RP: Oh, no way. I'm terrible at that. I can't even deal with people shouting at each other. The slightest bit of conflict and I'm gone immediately. It's one of the challenges of this movie for me. It's balancing the emotional aspects with the physical demands. Occasionally, there come moments where you have to portray a big story within a fight scene and it does become quite complicated.

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